'I don't know about you, but that fellow rubbed me the wrong way,' I said as we drew up beside Frodo. 'Sort of gave me the willies.'

Now that I was close enough to really see Frodo, another thing giving me the willies was how white he had gone, right to his lips, and the way his eyes looked sort of vacant. Sam asked him what was wrong.

'Did something happen?' I said.

'No,' he said, 'Nothing happened. That rider gave me the willies too, that's all.' I saw he was shivering. Sam and I exchanged a look.

'We could stop here for the night,' I said. 'Would you like that?'

'We couldn't possibly stop here,' he said. 'We couldn't possibly.'

We kept off the trail and kept on toward Buckland. The light was fading fast and clearly we were going to have to stop soon and set up camp, but in deference to Frodo we pressed on.

Even while the light was still good, Frodo tripped more than once. Finally on the third or fourth time he had tripped over something, and this time he actually fell, he picked himself up off the ground and faced me and Sam.

'Right,' he said. 'I've got something to tell you. You might hate me afterward, and I wouldn't blame you if you did, but I really hope you won't. Pippin, I'm not really moving to Crickhollow. I'm leaving the Shire. Sam already knows, he's coming with me. It's not what you think, I'm not taking off for the fun of it the way Bilbo did. Remember Bilbo's ring? The one he found when he went away with the dwarves? Well it turns out it's a massively evil ring. It comes from Mordor. It belongs to the dark lord, or it is the dark lord, I'm not sure exactly but it's dark and it's important and dark things are looking for it, like that rider we saw just now, and if they find it then all of Middle-Earth is going to go into darkness, some sort of darkness, I'm not sure what it will be like exactly but it will be bad. So the ring has got to be destroyed. But the only way to destroy it is to take it to Mordor. So I'm taking the ring to the elves at Rivendell so that they can figure out a way to get it there, and Sam is coming with me, and in the meantime the three of us are in terrible danger, and if that rider gets you I will feel really horribly because you came on this walk not having any idea of the danger you were getting into, and I let you. I am so, so sorry.'

I was touched by his beauty and his responsibility. Now it was my turn. I soothed my hands down his arms and said, 'I have something to tell you too. I knew all along that you were leaving the Shire, and I knew about the ring and why you were going, and I knew that Sam was going with you, and what you don't know is that I'm coming with you too, and so is Merry. We're all going together, to see you there safe and maybe have a bit of an adventure while we're at it.'

Frodo stared at me with his mouth open. Then he turned and stared at Sam. Sam was blushing deep but he nodded to show Frodo it was true.

'Oh,' said Frodo. 'You're not going to leave me then?'

I said I wasn't.

'You don't hate me?'

'No,' I said. 'And you don't hate me and Sam? For going behind your back?'

He said he didn't.

'Right,' I said. 'Then let's set up camp.'

There were leaves inside the hollow log, and we lay in the leaves in the log and listened to the wind. Frodo was lying still and I was holding him close. Sam was out looking at the stars.

I soothed my hands over Frodo's ribs, his shoulders, his forehead. He froze, letting me touch him but not responding, then moved away from me, rustling the leaves. I couldn't see him in the dark.

He said, 'I did want an adventure. Like Bilbo. I'm taking the ring to the elves so they can destroy it but also I want to leave, like Bilbo did, I want to stay but also I want to leave, just to please myself. Do you hate me now?'

I said I didn't.

More rustling, he came back to me, his body settled warm along the length of mine. I felt his hand on the back of my head, then at my ear, then my belly. We kissed. We made love. It wasn't the first time.

Later Sam came back in and we all curled together in the leaves in the hollow log, with the wind still blowing outside. We listened to it until we drifted off.

The End